Catalog Surfing

I don't know about you but my mailbox is very full these days. You know, the old fashioned box at the end of your driveway that usually only has junk mail but now has the good stuff we wait all year for. Yep, it's the time of year when new seed or garden catalogs just waiting to be devoured cover to cover, start arriving.

Normally, I go page by page, circling the things I just have to have. That is round one. Round two means getting more real, looking at what will and won't grow here in the Inland Empire and asking myself if anyone in our family will even eat the "exotic" vegetables I just have to have. Round three, I add up the cost of this fantasy garden. This is when the day dreaming usually ends.

Like many gardeners, the focus of my gardening efforts has changed quite a bit over the years. For many of those years, I was a container gardener; growing roses, scented geraniums, gardenia plants along with various herbs and annuals. But about five years ago, while still renting, I decided on planting a vegetable garden - this time, in the ground.

This was big for me! Up until then, I had never waiverd on my strict policy of not planting anything in someone else's dirt - hence why I was the self proclaimed Queen of Containers! For those of you who have tended gardens that you have had to leave behind, you understand this strict policy! Leaving behind your beloved plants when you move, is like leaving behind members of your family - heartbreaking and hard to recover from.

So, having not had the success I wanted from growing veggies in containers, I got the family involved and we turned over a square 12x12 section in the back. We planted squash, tomato and lettuce. The squash did very well, as squash tends to do. The success of the tomato was fair, the lettuce was poor. But it didn't really matter. The process of Mr. King, our less than cordial neighbor sticking his head over the fence to offer us a tomato cage he wasn't using, was in my opinion, the crowning success of that veggie patch!

Flash forward to now. Our family has lived in our own new home for almost a year and a half now, which means we have one full vegetable garden season behind us. I have to say, the second time around was a heck of a lot better than the first. Tomato plants yielded brilliantly, lasting all the way through November as did the six varieties of basil we planted. Hot peppers, eggplant, and did well. Salad greens are still going strong, as are plenty of herbs.

So what was the difference? I think it was a few things. First off, it is my own property. Second, our garden soil here is awesome! When you dig, there are earthworms bigger than any I have ever seen! Adding to that, we actually used the compost from our backyard bin - what a concept! Last, and what I think was perhaps the most important part, I used herb and heirloom vegetable starters versus seeds.

Back to the garden catalogs. Today, as I look through them, I still dream of what I would love to plant in my spring /summer veggie garden. But now, as a growerof herb and heirloom vegetable starters, I sit and wonder what my neighbors here in the IE are dreaming of planting in their home/community gardens. Catalog surfing helps me know if I was on target when making our seed purchases last fall for our upcoming gardening season. When something new to this years growing season really stands out, I can immediately go on a hunt for organic and heirloom seed source. How I do love the challenge!

But the truth is, I could really use your help. After you are done circling up your catalogs and refining your wish lists, could you do me a favor? Share with me what you are planning on planting in your veggie garden this year - whether it will be a ground or a container garden. Chances are, Rolling Hills will be growing it. If we aren't, we can suggest a variety that you may like even better since our focus is growing varieties that will do well here in the Inland Empire.

Here's to catalog surfing and your best veggie garden ever!

Carrie-Anne

Grower -Rolling Hills Herbs & Annuals